Although our hearts are broken tonight by the loss of another innocent child through the insanity of wanton gunplay, we cannot afford to be numb over this.
We have to cry and beat our breasts along with the family and friends of 14-year-old Lizmarie Perez Chapparro, who died today on our watch.
We must wail at such pain and insanity, at such Godlessness.
Weep.
And then dry your eyes and do something.
Call the senators who would stall a bill that would confer peace officer status to federal agents in our territory thus keeping their assistance at bay. Tell them to bring that bill back to the floor and pass it if they want to be re-elected.
And while you are at it, tell them you want money appropriated and allotted for programs such as My Brother’s Workshop, which has displayed great success in pulling some of our lost young men off the streets and into useful training and apprenticeships. There are 200 men who need your help on the waiting list for that program alone.
Hire these young men for the next construction job you have. Tell the governor or Public Works commissioner you want them hired for the next public construction job.
Go to any public elementary school in the territory and read to a classroom of youngsters who may have no one else who does that for them. Take a few of them home for dinner, or to a movie or ball game, or the beach or a library.
Give a second chance to someone whose life you may change by doing so.
Raise hell with the airlines and TSA who refuse to tell us who is bringing the guns into the territory. Raise hell with those who nay say the idea of gun control in this fallen paradise.
Turn somebody in to the police who you know is running illegal activities…and then wail again.
Cry for Lizmarie’s parents.
Cry for the life she no longer has.
Scream out loud with outrage. But don’t assign blame unless you have taken one of the above actions or something like it.
This is a societal problem. If you are part of society, you need to do something other than complain and blame.
And while you decide what positive action you will take to make the change you want to see, feel the pain and weep.
Perhaps funding can be “reprogrammed” from the Lottery funds that fund the Rwanda Project USVI. Programs like My Brother’s Workshop along with countless others could really benefit our youth. It is time we help the kids in our own backyard before a small group of priveledge youth travel to Africa. I know this program looks good on a college resume but how does it help our small community as a whole. Clearly, we have lost a perspective that can benefit many. If publc can be “reprogrammed” for security why can’t we do the same for better education and youth programs.
George L Johansen
Peekskill, NY
St Thomas, VI
When the cruize ships stop comming as they dod in St Croix, perhaps the govt will wake up. But then it will be too late! St Thomas is in a down hill spiral like Kingston and san Juan. And it’s the fault of all the do nothing senators and other political figures including the top heavy brass at the police department.
St thomas PD needs to be purged of the dead wood and the police need to be trained to conduct a zero tollerance attitude while on patrol. Police managers should be hired from outside the dept who can bring successful anti crime programs to the island. It is shameful that an island this small has such a population that looks the other way every day while the papers continue to report shots fired in every publication.
Wake up folks, before it’s too late!
diego, Once again Shaun Pennington has made complete sense and said what many believe. Why is it nothing has been done. The governor cannot do this alone he needs the help and support of everyone to help squash the violence.
Every death is a tragedy no matter who, what or why. The families of the innocent and the families of gang members all suffer. The attitude of some who believe, well they are just killing each other is wrong, very wrong.
I don’t have a solution but, Shaun’s suggestions certainly seem like a good place to start.
Plead for federal assistance. You have waited too long for the VIPD and VI Justice to take care of this violent situation. Let go of the pride that is costing lives, reach out to all in the position to pressure the government to ask for federal assistance. Stop worrying about, “How it will look.” Think about how it will look if the crime is not abated.
Think how Carnival must feel right now, the crime issues in the USVI are not a secret, yet they continue to put their guests in danger and send them ashore without a care in the world.
Please for the sake of all stop complaining and start accepting help.
Look, Listen, Think, Solve.
As determined in past US Supreme Court decisions, The police DO NOT have a mandate to protect the private citizen.
Knowing that the police are not required by law to provide for my protection and if they so decide to perform this service there response time will be such that the service is no longer required.
The US constitution is the law of the land, it gives us RIGHT to bear arms, as has been confirmed by the recent supreme court desicion.
I for one and my wife have elected to use our constitutional rights and moral obligation to protect our family from harm that the police are not required by law to provide by having a concealed weapon near our hands
For more information about the gang problem in the Caribbean go to Arizona State University’s Center for Violence Prevention. Reports and other research is available at the following site. http://cvpcs.asu.edu/projects/understanding-and-responding-gangs-caribbean